Here's an interesting proposal that would dramatically changed the skyline & waterfront and possibly take this city beyond being in Portland's shadow.

Vancouver waterfront development will be shovel-ready soon, developer, investors say

By Dean Baker, Special to The Oregonian The Oregonian
on April 03, 2013 at 7:37 PM, updated April 03, 2013 at 8:36 PM

From an old mill site, a 7-year-old dream is becoming a $1.5 billion development on the banks of the Columbia River in downtown Vancouver.
A 170-room hotel and two restaurants are close to agreeing to come to Vancouver's waterfront and will be keys to a 32-acre residential and business district emerging over the next decade.

Two tunnels are being built from Esther and Grant streets under railroad tracks, connecting the city's downtown to the river for the first time in more than 100 years.

So says Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, the Tualatin firm behind the public-private project on the former Boise Cascade lumber mill site east of the Interstate 5 bridge.

Gramor has a strong track record in the Portland area, having built Mill Plain Town Center and Hazel Dell Crossing in Vancouver as well as Lake View Village in Lake Oswego and Progress Ridge Town Square in Beaverton, among other projects.

"There is nothing like this around," Cain said. "You think of Portland as being a waterfront city, but this is even more on the water."

Images drawn by Gramor's architect, Twist Architecture & Design of Seattle, show a development not unlike Portland's Pearl District, with condos, businesses, restaurants, hotel and major employer all lending vitality.

In an email, Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt said the project "represents a coming-of-age for southwest Washington."

"This project is assured to create jobs, expand recreational opportunities, add waterfront housing and offices, and offer another great reason for others to come visit Vancouver," Leavitt said. "The addition of light rail and/or streetcar in the vicinity or within the project will be added value for our entire community, aside from the success of the waterfront."

Caution flags

But independent Portland economist Joe Cortright, president and principal economist for Impresa, a consulting firm specializing in regional economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters, raised caution flags.
First, he said, construction of a new Interstate 5 bridge, if it comes to pass, will lead to several years of blocked streets and traffic diversions that could make travel to and from the development problematic. A new bridge with light rail would also bring two large parking garages to downtown Vancouver, causing a major impact.

Second, Gramor's planned buildings as well as the new bridge would rise higher than any buildings now in downtown Vancouver, obstructing views of Mount Hood, Cortright said.

"I'm not sure any of this would have a positive impact on this real estate event," he said.

The waterfront construction will proceed regardless of progress on the planned Columbia River Crossing, Cain said.

He says a new I-5 bridge with light rail would encourage the influx of young professionals and businesses Gramor hopes to attract to the city of 165,000.

"We could live and be happy either way, with the new bridge or without it," said Cain. "Long term, it's better to have the bridge because it gives more predictable accessibility for people from the Oregon side to come to restaurants and other uses."

"We do want to attract urban professionals," said Kerry Dugan, who handles marketing for Gramor.

Calls for condos

Private investors in the project include George Diamond, principal of Real Estate Investment Group; Jan and Steve Oliva, former owners of Hi-School Pharmacy; and retired Kiewit Pacific Co. executives Al Kirkwood and Steven Hansen.
"I think our timing is finally good now that the economy has turned around," said Diamond, the broker for the project. "We have all the off-site improvements done, and we are going to be shovel-ready in 12 to 18 months.

"There is nobody else in the Portland area that I know of that can offer the space we have -- up to a million or down to 100,000 square feet for a corporate headquarters, retailers, hotels," Diamond said.

He said he is getting more calls for condominiums than anything else and the project will include high-end, senior and affordable apartments on the river.

"We have general zoning so it is up to us how we develop 22 blocks," Diamond said.

"This is an infrastructure project," Cain said. "It's a subdivision project. We are selling lots to builders who want to build here, and we are taking commitments."

He and Diamond said they aren't ready to announce any commitments yet but insisted deals are imminent.

Cain said Gramor plans to develop 3,300 housing units and 1.45 million square feet of office and retail space on 22 city blocks. Buildings are planned to be 120 feet high on the east side of the new residential and business district to 220 feet on the west side. That would mean maximum building heights of 10 to 20 stories.

"There are people who will want to have corporate headquarters here. The next time there's a PeaceHealth or Fisher Investments come to town, we'll be there," Cain said.

Workers are already raising some 2,000 feet of BNSF Railway tracks to build pedestrian and vehicle tunnels that would give downtown Vancouver direct access to the river. The city is pouring $18 million into the $44.6 million tunnel project, said Leavitt. The remaining $26.6 million consists of $8 million from the developers, $2.5 million from the railroad, and federal and state appropriations.

The job is to be finished by year's end. The raised tracks and pedestrian and vehicle tunnels are the big cooperative effort setting the stage for the waterfront development, Cain said.

"It will make it so Esther and Grant streets can come right into the site and it will feel like it's part of downtown," Cain said.

When, or if, the new I-5 bridge is completed, a new Columbia Way Street will run along the river and improve access under the bridge to existing parks and trails along the river, eventually to Camas and Washougal. The Quay Restaurant and Bar on Columbia Street west of the bridge will be swept away to make way for the new bridge.

Meanwhile, the city has received a $750,000 federal grant and $1 million in state funds to extend its Renaissance Trail for a half mile along the river through Gramor's planned riverfront park.

Cain said he expects to break ground in about a year on the 10-acre park and the extended trail will line the riverbank.

^Fort Vancouver was the original name but I don't remember anything about them wanting to change it back to that. However, I do like their vision and those buildings look great in the rendering although they will not be tall.

cool plan, i think i'd go with the 'bridge won't be built' ethos and just go for it.

You obviously don't know how hard politicians are pushing to replace the current bridge.

The current bridge is an almost 100 years old vertical lift bridge carrying traffic on I-5 and is rapidly becoming more and more congested. It NEEDS to be replaced. How and when? I have no idea what the outcome will be.

^Agreed, i'll believe when I see it too but they sound quite optimistic & aggressive about it so hopefully it will be built. I just wish they'd slap in at least a 500 footer or something taller because it looks more like a shorter version of Portland's South Waterfront with out it.

Vancouver (the other one)
In Washington (the state)
Outside Portland (the western version)
On the Columbia (river, not country)

This looks quite Vancouveresque...the other one. New Westminster might be the best example.

I think this proposal is actually a cut above the waterfront developments south of the tracks in New Westminster, this is much better planned and more connected. I think better parallels for them to look at in BC to maybe see what's been successful and what hasn't would be the Olympic Village and surrounding areas, and River Green in Richmond, which is a suburban city that I think very closely parallels Vancouver, Washington.

Looks like Crystal City VA. I am assuming this is going to be done in phases? I hope this ends up looking like the render and does not become one of those projects that ends up getting scaled way down or not happening at all.

After several years of planning, work is now underway on a $1.5 billion redevelopment project that aims to completely transform Vancouver's waterfront and reconnect the area with the city's downtown core.

The project, which will cover 22 city blocks and 32 acres, will include a mix of unique shops, restaurants and housing, as well as a hotel and park along the Columbia River.

^^^ Can't tell for sure, but it doesn't seem to me like Gramor Development or Columbia Waterfront LLC would have any reason to try to prevent the oil terminal expansion unless they actually planned on developing the site.

In terms of the scope of the renderings, however, that might be a little optimistic. I think I remember reading that the renderings shown represented the maximum allowable building height due to the project's vicinity to Pearson Field and PDX.

In the next few weeks, crews will finish placing new traffic signals and streetlights along freshly paved streets and sidewalks on the site. This fall, the first $220 million stage of construction on the buildings and parking spaces is scheduled to begin.

Estimates have placed the cost of the new park at about $17 million. Almost all the money needed for that portion has been raised; the city just received a $1 million grant from the Washington state Recreation and Conservation Office to help cover the cost. Construction will begin in October, and the park is expected to open in 2017.

The Hudson, named for the region’s early traders at Fort Vancouver, is the first new downtown office building in recent memory. Watching the time-lapse video of the construction that started in March 2015 doesn’t do justice to what it took to get here.

Tyler said Killian years ago bought the property that had been home to a rundown residential hotel and former nightclub. Along with the Columbia Bank building it built next door, Killian has long had plans for the corner of Sixth and Main.

“It’s meant to fill a need not being met in downtown Vancouver,” Tyler said.

Killian is moving its offices from another downtown location to the Hudson, as is Mackenzie, the regional architect, planning and engineering firm. The first tenant to give the building life is Pacific Continental Bank, based in Eugene, Ore.

“It’s a great time for Vancouver. We consider this our office of the future,” said Kristi Weaver, senior vice president of the bank. “We haven’t built an office in 10 years. We could have done this anywhere in our footprint — Eugene, Seattle, Tacoma — but we did this here because this is where it’s growing, where there is tremendous opportunity.”

The bank will take a major ground-floor footprint to serve — and perhaps impress — its largely business and nonprofit customers.

Gramor Development has started construction on the first building in a 32-acre mixed-use development called The Waterfront Vancouver along the Columbia River.

The seven-story structure is in Block 6 of the development that will cover 21 blocks. M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust is leasing 18,000 of the 61,000 square feet of office space in the building, which will also have 17,000 square feet of retail and underground parking.

The City of Vancouver has begun preliminary construction work on the new waterfront park along the Columbia River, just west of Interstate 5.

Work involves removal of existing surface obstructions, rough grading, adjusting manholes, installing utility sleeves and preliminary trail work. This preliminary work, anticipated to be complete by May, lays the groundwork for the new waterfront park, which will begin construction this summer.

The 10-acre Terminal 1 site will be home to a new brewpub, Warehouse 23, which is opening this summer, and a biotechnology and life sciences hub that will be home to, among others, AbSci LLC, a Portland biotech firm.

Both of those will be located in the former Red Lion hotel building, which closed last fall when its lease with the Port was up.